i love sundays! getting up early* to do all the necessary things (laundry, cleaning up,...).... which gives me a whole afternoon to do the things i love! i made orange-cinnamon jam and spicy cookies... which i ate with a nice cup of coffee! i was finishing my swatch for week 9, weaving the ends in and adding the label.

 

 so here it is again!!

no.9: ajour #2

 this ajour swatch came out much better than the previous one. i like the technique! it is actually quite easy to do... :) i took a picture of the swatch against the light so you can see the holes better. oh and look how nice swatch no.9 looks together with swatches 8 and 6. :)

 have a nice sunday evening! i'm off to do the necessary things like cooking dinner and eating it, too!

*getting up early = being poked out of bed by my boyfriend who's always awake early :)

as you might have noticed, i'm totally into knitting again! (partly) thanks to my boyfriends granddad!

my boyfriends granddad (also called 'vovo') has never wanted anything else on his feet than handknitted socks! he hates the feeling of mass-produced socks, and says nothing fits and feels better than a pair of handknitted socks. grandma used to knit them for him, but her sight has gotten worse with old age, so my mother in law proposed to knit some pairs for vovo! so every time i visit i find (and pick up) granddads socks-to-be. and it reminds me: knitting socks is fun. :)

so now i'm knitting socks again, ribbed ones, just like vovo's!

 i'm also working on my first "comissioned" knitting, a colleague of mine placed a custom order... i'm very curious about how it's gonna turn out! i'm sure he is too. :) we picked out the yarn together and i have to admit the colours aren't really my taste... but it's a nice change to knit with bright colours!

and ofcourse i still had to show my swatch. i already knew this stitch,  it's very simple but pretty, easy and quick. (so far they all are)

no.8: ribs #2

some of you have been asking how the swatches look when they are put together... when i finished knitting the 10th, i promise i will show! i always put the swatches in a box after i knitted them, so i have no idea what it will look like myself! exciting! :)

my wristwarmers are finished! i really, really like them! the subtle grey colour goes with everything and they are quite elegant, too! (my boyfriend disagrees, he thinks i look like a beggar when i wear them. :) he's just not a big fan of wristwarmers.)

here are some (unsharp) pictures:

 

because i was using thinner yarn, i modified the pattern to suit my own gauge swatch. i'm quite proud because it was the first time i did this and it worked! hurray!!

my swatch for week 7 was also finished. this one is called the rice stitch, it's yet again a simple and pretty stitch. it stays nice and flat and would be great for a scarf.

no.7: structure/color #2

the back of the stitch looks different:

now i'm off to knitting swatch no.8!

last week i promised you an update on the granny square blanket. well, here are some pictures! i think i'm almost there, it now measures 120cm x 170cm, which is a decent size for a blanket. and i still have to crochet a border! i'm probably going for a white border with a picot-edge. :)

(this was purposly shot with our rug so you have an idea of the size)

as you can see, most of the squares are joined in panels already. this will make my life easier when i'm putting the blanket together. though i'm not looking forward to weaving all those damn loose ends in...

the knitted swatch for week 6 was easy and fun to knit.

it's called the "drop stitch", a stitch with a subtle yet interesting structure. i like it!

no.6: knit/purl #2

ta-dah! here's swatch no.5; cables this time! so much easier than i imagined... :) 

it's a long swatch, so i could really practice the cable stitch! i like how this swatch is so different in size, that might make it more interesting when i put them all together, at the end of this year.

no.5: cables#1

i'm really liking the swatch-a-week project so far! i was afraid i would have no time left for other things, but i like having short-term goals. i'm glad i'm finishing things... even if it's just a swatch.

i had a little more time this week, so i started knitting the second wristwarmer... and i teared out my zpagetti basket after my boyfriend banned it out of the living room. (a story yet to be told)
AND!!!!! my granny square blanket is almost finished now, after two years of crocheting...
i am currently crocheting with the last skeins of yarn, when i'm trough those i still have to put all the squares together. it might be fun to give you guys an update next week. :)

and just like last weekend, we took a winter walk, a REAL winter walk this time: loads of snow and cold, cold, cooooold. :) but so much fun, i love snow!! have a nice week and keep warm!